I called Motorola for some tech help last week.

The first tech person did everything she could to get me off the phone as fast as possible. "You don’t have a Moto phone, so we can’t help you make it work with a Moto bluetooth headset. Call Nokia!" I persisted, to no avail. The only option seemed to be to return the headset to Amazon.

I called back. The second person spent exactly two minutes more on the phone with me and fixed the problem.

Which strategy is more profitable?

At some point, you need to make a decision about whether or not you want to interact with prospects and customers. Either you do or you don’t. If your goal is to reduce the cost, then get me off the phone (and stop advertising too, because advertising only leads to interactions). On the other hand, if your goal is to maximize the benefits, get me in the door and don’t let me leave. Play movies in your furniture store for impatient husbands. Hire talkative smart people for the phone. Support competitive products. Talk talk talk, listen listen listen.

Who wins?